A candidate applying for an army or government job is disqualified if he has a criminal record. But the rules are different for politicians contesting elections. Unless a court convicts someone, he is free to contest elections or hold important ministerial posts once elected. This is in fact a stain on the electoral system of the world’s largest democratic nation which no government has tried or been able to erase so far. It is a fact that many prominent leaders and ministers of the country are tainted. The reason to say all this is that recently the Association of Democratic Reforms published a shocking statistic after studying the affidavits of 543 newly elected Lok Sabha MPs who have been elected in the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to the statistics by ADR, out of the newly elected Lok Sabha MPs, criminal cases have been filed against 251 MPs, while 27 of them have been convicted in multiple cases. This year’s number is the highest compared to all the MPs elected in the Lok Sabha so far. And it has MPs from all parties. If almost half of the MPs in the country’s Parliament are from criminal backgrounds, can this be considered a healthy democracy? These MPs defend their crimes saying these were registered while MPs were fighting for people’s issues. Some even boast that they are ready to face thousands of such cases for the people. According to the statistics released by ADR, this year, out of 251 winning candidates, 170 (31 percent) MPs have rape, murder and other serious criminal cases against them, including attempt to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women.
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ADR’s analysis highlight the fact that since 2009, the number of MPs with declared criminal cases has increased by a whopping 124 per cent. What does this picture say? In all, 27 winning candidates elected in the Lok Sabha elections this year have declared in their affidavits that they have been convicted in criminal cases. There are four cases related to murder under Section 307 of the IPC; 15 winning candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women, including two among them have rape charges under IPC’s Section 376. In addition, four winning candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping and 43 have declared cases related to hate speech. Ironically, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a candidate with declared criminal cases had a 15.3 percent chance of victory, whereas for a clean candidate, the chances were only 4.4 percent. This is really serious and alarming.
According to the ADR, 94 (39 percent) of the 240 winning candidates of the BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the 18th Lok Sabha, have criminal charges against them. Forty nine (49 percent) of the 99 winning candidates of the Congress have criminal charges against them, and 21 (45 percent) of the 37 candidates of the Samajwadi Party candidates have criminal charges against them. TMC has 13 out of 29 (45 per cent), DMK has 13 out of 22 (59 per cent), TDP has eight out of 16 (50 per cent), Shiv Sena has five out of seven (71 per cent) candidates who have declared their criminal cases. The analysis has found that 63 BJP candidates, 32 Congress candidates and 17 SP candidates have serious criminal cases against them. Seven TMC candidates, six DMK candidates, five TDP candidates and four Shiv Sena candidates have serious criminal cases as mentioned by ADR in its analysis.
What message does this convey to the new generation who will be eager to participate in the democratic process? The rule is that a person cannot contest an election if he has been convicted by a court, but this also means that even if the accused is in jail, he can contest the election until the court convicts him. But if he is already holding an elected office, and the court convicts him, he will be immediately disqualified from holding that office. Till 2013, India had a law that gave three months to people who already held an elected office and were later found guilty, to appeal to a higher authority. However, the Supreme Court in 2013 clarified that this was against the law and any such politician would be disqualified immediately on the date of conviction. The Supreme Court has said that there cannot be two separate rules for those who are contesting for office and those who are already holding it.
In fact, ahead of the five State elections held before this Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission had issued new rules for candidates with criminal backgrounds. The EC made it mandatory for the party shall publish the relevant details in newspapers, social media platforms and party websites within 48 hours of selecting a candidate with such criminal background. Earlier candidates used to provide their criminal records in an affidavit while filing nominations. According to the revised rules, a candidate and his party will have to publish a report in a newspaper or on television if the candidate has criminal details. This has to be done three times. Along with the candidates, the contesting parties will also be required to follow the new rules. At the same time, the party will have to tell the Election Commission why it gave the ticket to the candidate involved in a criminal case. Candidates who attempt to conceal their criminal history may also have their nomination cancelled as per the Commission’s rules. The Election Commission had also clarified that the candidates themselves will be responsible for this. The only conclusion is that, it is not necessary to be taintless to get elected, which is a tragedy for the Indian democratic system.
